


Catch Me When I Fall

by Concerned_terrapin



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Adam can go die, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon divergent after episode 9, Chinen Miya is a Good Friend, Confused Hasegawa Langa, Hasegawa Langa Needs a Hug, Insecure Kyan Reki, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Professional Skateboarder Hasegawa Langa, Skateboard Designer Kyan Reki
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:48:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29902731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Concerned_terrapin/pseuds/Concerned_terrapin
Summary: He should have been screaming for joy, Langa had done it, he had beaten Joe, one of the best racers in S, but Reki couldn't seem to forget that Langa's next race could end up being against Adam, and he knew that his friend likely would never stop until he had beaten him, even if he got hurt along the way. Reki couldn't stand by on the sidelines while Langa pushed himself to these unimaginable heights. He couldn't watch while Langa maimed himself trying to compete with people way outside his league.It was in that moment that Reki realized he couldn't be the supportive friend on the sidelines. There was only one thing he could do.He left.In the aftermath of Langa's race against Joe, Reki realizes he can't support Langa's dangerous habit. So he decides to leave skateboarding, and Okinawa for good.
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki
Comments: 39
Kudos: 252





	1. Broken Skin and Bleeding Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, 
> 
> The past couple weeks of Sk8 the Infinity have proceeded to break my heart into millions of tiny pieces, so I decided to dull my pain through fanfiction. 
> 
> Unfortunately, there isn't all that many multi-chapter fics available, so I decided to write my own. I've not fully outlined this fic yet, but I'm thinking it'll be ~25,000 words, but we'll see how well I stick to that estimate. 
> 
> This first chapter is fairly canon compliant with things that happened in episode 7,8 and 9 (so episode 9 spoilers if you haven't seen it already), but after this chapter everything will likely veer very far from canon. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy!

“You and I aren’t a good match anymore.”

Reki kept his back to Langa, unwilling to see the distraught look cross his friend’s face. Or maybe the blue haired boy wouldn’t look upset at all, maybe he would be relieved to finally be rid of a worthless friend like Reki. Either way it was too painful for him to look back and he forced himself to keep his back turned as he walked away in the pouring rain, and if a tear or two slid down his face in the process, who’s to say it wasn’t just the rain?

That night Reki didn’t sleep very much, he couldn’t stop replaying last night over and over in his head. At first he felt guilty for blowing up at Langa, but then he kept remembering the blue-haired boy promising months ago not to go up against Adam anymore. He kept replaying Langa latching on to him last night, eyes twinkling brighter than he had ever seen them, gushing about how exciting it was to go up against Adam, but every time he thought of the masked skater all he felt was the knee-shaking fear of going up against the man’s notorious ‘Love Hug’. And that was what caused him to snap at his friend, that moment, when he realized that skaters like Adam and Langa were on a completely different level than him and he knew that the more Langa skated the further he would draw away from Reki. Langa would slowly realize he wasn’t good enough to stand by his side. Reki didn't know if he could handle Langa slowly pulling away from him and leaving him behind and continue skateboarding without him, but that didn’t mean that cutting off his closest friend didn’t hurt like a bitch. 

Reki spent the rest of the weekend in a haze, finding himself in a constant feedback loop of guilt and anger. He spent hours watching old videos of Langa when he was first beginning to skate and had trouble even popping an ollie. The blue-haired boy was covered in scrapes and bruises but his smile was nearly blinding when he finally stuck the landing. Reki had almost convinced himself to apologize to Langa to spare himself from the constant ache in his chest every time he thought about the taller boy when his phone dinged with a message. 

**Langa:** (23:47) The qualifier is about to start.

**Langa:** (23:59) Reki? Where are you? 

Reki just sat his phone down beside him on the bed and stared at the ceiling, feeling a familiar burning sensation beginning to build behind his eyes.  _ What was he thinking? _ Even if he made up with Langa he would always be behind, watching his friend from the sidelines because he would never be able to catch up to a genius like Langa. His blue-haired friend would constantly be a reminder of how he was never good enough. Cherry, Joe, Shadow, even middle-schooler Miya were all skaters with ten times the talent he had. They should be the people for Langa to be seen around, not a nobody like him who would always drag him down, someone who Langa felt he would always have to protect since he was too weak to protect himself. Reki’s train of dark thoughts continued for what felt like hours until he was finally able to fall into a fitful sleep, never responding to the blue haired boy's worried messages. 

The next morning Reki was tired and puffy-eyed and longed to feign sick and stay home from school, but he didn’t want to worry his mom any more than he already had, so against better judgement, he dressed, put on what he hoped was a convincing smile, and snatched his bento from his mom’s arms. He tried to ignore the concerned look flickering across his mom’s face and raced out the door before she could question him. 

He avoided Langa and his usual meet-up spot, he didn’t know what would be worse, seeing Langa standing there wanting to apologize, or seeing their meeting spot empty, Langa already deciding that their friendship wasn’t worth it. 

When Reki made it to class, he was earlier than usual since he had forgone his meet up with Langa. The seat beside him was noticeably empty, and against better judgement Reki couldn't help but watch the desk out of the corner of his eye, waiting for his taller friend to arrive. Langa made it to class barely a minute before it was set to start, sweaty and out of breath. For a brief moment Reki nearly turned to greet the boy out of habit, but quickly remembered that he was mad at the lanky skater and stubbornly remained facing towards the window. 

“Good morning Reki!”

“Hey.” As much as he wanted to ignore the stoic boy, he couldn’t help himself from responding back, albeit much less enthusiastically than normal.

“I made it past the qualifiers.”

Reki felt tense being in such close proximity to Langa, but he forced himself to remain nonchalant and continued staring out the window, refusing to respond. Unfortunately, the window clearly reflected the classroom back at him and he was able to catch sight of Langa’s down-turned face before he turned away to face the front of the classroom and Reki shut his eyes with a loud sigh, the sight of his friend's sad pale face burned into his eyelids. 

The rest of the school week passed by in a blur, Reki was unable to pay attention in any of his classes, he was too concerned with trying not to fixate on the blue-haired boy beside him. He snuck passing glances every time Langa sighed too loudly, and tried not to react the few times their eyes briefly met in the reflection of the window. 

Every moment he spent in Langa’s presence Reki felt his resolve beginning to crumble. He couldn’t count the number of times he noticed a flash of pale blue out of the corner of his eye and wanted to break down and beg for forgiveness in the middle of their modern Japanese lesson. 

By the end of the school week Reki's nerves were fried from trying to ignore and avoid the boy who was once his closest friend. As soon as the school bell rang signalling the end of the day, he was off like a shot, trying to avoid being around the Canadian any longer than necessary. He skated away from campus recklessly, taking dirty side streets and throwing himself across busy intersections, weaving his way in and out of cars honking loudly at him. His body was on autopilot, going through the motions of skating without taking any joy in it. He expected to find himself on the familiar path back to his house, but instead, with no idea how he ended up there, he found himself standing breathless in front of the ramen place that he occasionally frequented with his skating friends. 

Not one about to turn down a chance at a meal, Reki pushed his way inside the store and settled himself down at his usual seat near the front. 

Once his order arrived he ate silently, much slower than normal. He thought the ramen tasted different than usual, not as flavorful as it usually was, but maybe without friends to spend a dinner with, food just wasn't as enjoyable. 

He had nearly finished his bowl in his painfully slow manner when he felt the seat beside him shift and a large green haired man sit down beside him. 

"What do you want Joe?" 

The muscular man just stared at him for a few moments before turning forward and flagging down the chef for a bowl of his own. 

"Just checking in on you kid, wanted to make sure you were doing okay. Langa hasn't been himself without you there at S."

Reki couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at the thought of the pale skater. Which caused Joe to chuckle softly and ruffle Reki's hair roughly. 

"Reki, I know you and Langa are fighting for some reason. I don't know why. But I will tell you that no one should end up eating alone." 

Joe sent him a soft smile and got up from the table leaving his uneaten bowl of ramen behind. He waved to the chef as he left and gestured to Reki. 

"Kid's got my tab."

Typical Joe, not giving out any sort of advice for free. But at least he got another bowl of ramen out of it. He asked the restaurant owner to box up the dish so he could take it home and maybe give it to one of his sisters and he set off towards home just as the sun began to set with a lot on his mind. 

“I’m home.”

He begins pulling off his shoes slowly, unwilling to enter the presence of his very perceptive female relatives. He slumped on the couch, dropped the ramen on the coffee table and turned on the TV, wanting to distract himself from the swirling thoughts flickering around in his own head. 

Some sort of special was on, talking about a man who made running shoes as a living because he apparently wasn’t cut out to be a runner.  _ Is that all I’m good for? _ Was he not cut out to be an amazing skater like Langa, or Cherry, or Joe and the best he could do was watch them succeed from the sidelines? 

“That’s so uncool.” Reki wasn’t quite sure if he was talking about himself or the man on the TV. 

“What’s so uncool? I mean you’re always uncool Reki.” 

He looked up to see his younger sister, Tsukihi standing above him eating ice cream. He scoffed and rolled his eyes. He was much too old to get involved in her childish antics. 

Tsukihi didn’t seem to notice that her brother wasn't interested in conversation and continued to ramble, “I dunno, whenever you skateboard maybe you can be ever so slightly cool.” 

Reki actually looked up at his sister when she said that, eyes widening slightly in surprise. If he was only cool while he was skateboarding, what would he be if he decided to give that up? Maybe he should try to be okay with supporting his friends from the sidelines, then he can always stay a part of skateboarding. He might never be as good as Langa, the prodigy that he was, but he had other talents he could bring to the table, right? 

Springing up from his seat with a renewed energy, Reki dashed through the house, patting his sister on the head and throwing her a quick, “Thanks,” over his shoulder, earning him a quizzical look as he tugged on his shoes and grabbed his board before sprinting out the door and into the dimming light beyond. 

Reki knew that the quarter-finals of the S tournament was happening tonight, he tried to avoid hearing anything about the competition, but he knew that Langa had made it past the qualifiers, so likely Miya, Shadow, Joe, and Cherry had as well. Reki decided that if he couldn’t compete on the same level as his friends, the least he could do would be to go out there and support them. 

The sun was just beginning to set, so he knew that he had a few hours until the track for S would even be open for the night. Reki took the time skating across the city, trying to clear his mind. He skated past the stairs where he and Langa had their very one-sided fight, under the bridge where he had spent hours the week before trying to touch that same smudged graffiti star that the pale-haired skater had made look so easy. He skated past the park where he had first taught Langa to ride a skateboard and caught the whole thing on video, his friend's face lighting up like the sun underneath all his scrapes and bruises when he finally made it across the concrete without falling. 

Reki hated being mad at Langa, it made him feel restless and ill-at-ease. Everywhere he went it seemed to remind him of places he had spent skating with his friend. Places where they had been chased by cops, or roads where they had major wipeouts. Reki was hoping he could make up with Langa soon, since the pain of avoiding the blue eyed boy was getting to be too much. 

Finally, after hours of circling the city, Reki figured it was time for him to head to the S track. He originally planned on going up to Langa first thing and apologizing, but as soon as he caught sight of his pale blue hair, Reki chickened out and hid within another group of skaters discussing the races, who ogled him strangely as he interrupted their conversation, but luckily did not throw him out. 

Keeping his hood up and standing at the back of the crowd, Reki watched Adam step up to the elaborate stage and felt his lip curl in disgust at the perverted matador who had a strange fixation on Langa. Adam called the first quarter-final match of the night, Shadow versus Harry, and Reki actually felt himself begin to get excited at the prospect of watching one of his friends race. 

As the skaters prepared to face off, Reki skated down towards a more secluded part of the course where he would have a good view of the skaters coming around one of the major turns, but where he knew he wouldn’t be bothered by the other fans watching the race. There were a few other skaters loitering around nearby, but no one he recognized and Reki felt himself relax as the race started. 

Shadow’s race with Harry was intense. He thought he had seen all of Shadow’s moves when he had his beef against the guy a few months prior, ending with him falling off his board and breaking his wrist, but Shadow’s performance today was nothing short of astounding. 

Reki had never seen Shadow move so fast or aggressively down the course. Both skaters were on another level that the redhead could only dream of reaching. Reki felt himself tense as the skaters blew past his point on the course, worried Shadow would recognize him, but the makeup-ed man didn’t even seem to notice the crowd as he jostled for his position in the semi-finals. 

Reki wasn’t surprised that Shadow ended up winning the race using his signature mini-bombs to distract his opponent and cause them to crash. Hell, it was the same trick that had landed him in the hospital himself. Strangely though, Reki didn’t feel much of anything after hearing about Shadow’s win. He had expected himself to be thrilled that his friend had made it into the final four of the competition, but instead he just felt the familiar tide of jealousy begin to rise in his throat. Reki was nearly choking on it when Adam calling the next set of skaters snapped him from his thoughts. 

“Our next skater will be  **Snow** !” 

Reki gasped and turned his attention back to the phone in his hand and he felt his heart begin to beat frantically.  _ What if Langa goes up against Adam next? What if he gets hurt?  _ He missed what Adam said next due to the pounding of blood in his ears and nearly cried in relief when he saw that Langa was going up against Joe instead. 

He knew that Joe would be tough competition, and he wasn't even sure if Langa had the skills to best him with only a few months of skating under his belt compared to Joe's years of experience, but he knew that at least competing against Joe wouldn't likely end with Langa in the hospital. 

As the skaters lined up at the start of the track Reki couldn't help but overhear the small group of onlookers beside him, all talking loudly about how Joe would obviously take the match. 

"Joe has loads more experience than Snow, this match isn't even going to be a contest!" 

Reki couldn't help but interrupt their conversation, despite wanting to keep a low profile and not draw unwanted attention to himself. 

"I don't know what you're talking about. Snow is amazing! The amount of air he can get is beautiful. He's got-"

"Does that mean you're betting on Snow then?"

The redhead paused for a moment,  _ was he betting on Langa to win against Joe?  _ He couldn't decide if friendship or common sense should win out in that argument, but luckily he was saved from answering by the start of the race.

Joe and Langa exploded from the starting line in an amazing display of skill which left Reki and the other surrounding skaters speechless, all glued to the video on their phones in anticipation. 

At first Langa appeared to be keeping neck and neck with the muscular skater, but suddenly Joe bent down low over his board, pushing all of his weight onto his arms and putting on an unprecedented amount of speed, leaving Langa trailing in the dust. 

Reki could tell the skaters were approaching his position on the track and he raised his eyes from his phone to scan for signs of the two racers. In the blink of an eye Joe sped past, throwing up a thick cloud of dust in his wake. He blinked the dust from his eyes and scanned for Langa's lanky form which he expected to be in close pursuit. 

To his surprise, long seconds ticked by and there was no sign of Langa. Reki was nearly ready to go sprinting down the track to ensure the Canadian hadn't wiped out on the route when his shadowy form appeared around the corner. 

Reki could immediately tell that something was wrong, Langa's eyes were glazed and he looked wobbly on his board, moving at a slow pace not appropriate for a race of this caliber.  _ He's given up. He thinks he's going to lose.  _ Reki couldn't bear to see his friend so thoroughly beaten, even if it was unlikely Langa could come back from such a large gap, but he felt like he had to do something to help out his friend. 

Before he could think of a better idea, Reki pulled down his hood, displaying his distinctive red hair and called out loudly, hoping the taller boy wasn't too far out of it to hear him. 

" **Langa!** " 

Langa's transformation was immediate as a set of blue eyes widened and locked to his. It may have only lasted milliseconds, but he thought he saw the ghost of a smile grace the pale boy's lips as his face suddenly refocused and he drew himself down into a faster stance.

Even faster than he had come, Langa was gone, and Reki was forced to follow the rest of the race on his phone. 

In terms of S races, Joe and Langa's was probably one of the best he had ever seen, ending in a photo finish after Langa used Joe's own momentum against him and pushed off a moving steel beam. 

He should have been screaming for joy, Langa had done it, he had beaten Joe, one of the best racers in S, but Reki couldn't seem to forget that Langa's next race could end up being against Adam, and he knew that his friend likely would never stop until he had beaten him, even if he got hurt along the way. Reki couldn't stand by on the sidelines while Langa pushed himself to these unimaginable heights. He couldn't watch while Langa maimed himself trying to compete with people way outside his league. Langa had promised not to compete against Adam again and all it took was a couple of months and just the potential for a beef against the man for Langa to run off and completely abandon his promise to Reki. 

It was in that moment that Reki realized he couldn't be the supportive friend on the sidelines. He couldn't be happy for Langa when all he could think about was the potential harm coming around the next corner as Langa pushed himself further and further. He knew how determined the Canadian was, he knew he wouldn't stop once he set his mind to it, and as he found out, not even promises to Reki would get in the way of that. So there was only one thing left he could do.

Walking away from the tournament was the single hardest thing Reki had ever done. Leaving S meant not only leaving behind Langa and his friends, but leaving behind skateboarding, something that he had had in his life for as long as he could remember. 

As he approached the large steel gates that marked the entrance to S, Reki unbuttoned the pin at his collar, the entrance token needed to enter the games and gently placed it in the hand of one of the security guards. 

The large bald man raised his eyebrow, showering Reki with a surprisingly compassionate look which was at odds with his burly appearance. 

"Are you sure kid? You can't get this thing back." 

Instead of replying Reki just nodded, and as an added measure left his skateboard propped up against the wall beside the man and walked away slowly with his hands tucked deep into his pockets.

"I don't need it anymore." He whispered once he was out of hearing distance as a lone stray tear dripped down his face. 


	2. Bandaids Don't Fix Broken Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The events of episode 9 from Langa's perspective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, remember when I said I was gonna wait till tomorrow to post the next chapter... well I lied.   
> I got too excited about continuing the story and decided to post this as soon as I finished editing it.

He could barely remember anything about the race itself. The entire evening felt like a blur. He spent most of the time before the race desperately searching for Reki. He knew the redhead was here somewhere, since when he drove past his house before the race his friend was already gone. But he couldn't understand that if Reki had showed up to S, why he wouldn't just come up and talk to him.  


Langa barely heard Adam drawing his name and announcing his competition until Miya shoved him forward towards the starting line with a whispered "Don't fuck up!." He barely noticed Joe sliding up at the start alongside him. He felt surprisingly anxious as the race was about to start and he couldn't help but scan the crowd one last time for a glimpse of a familiar head of red hair. 

Once the race had begun his mind seemed to instantly go blank, he vaguely noticed Joe beginning to pull ahead in the race, but instead of his normal fiery drive to win, Langa felt nothing. He couldn't bring himself to care about beating Joe, the familiar spark he usually held for skating just seemed to have vanished into thin air. Langa had just resigned himself to second place when out of nowhere a familiar voice broke through his jumbled thoughts. 

" **Langa!** " 

_ Reki?  _

Immediately he snapped out of his haze as he caught sight of a familiar head of vibrant red hair and his eyes locked on to his friend's heated amber gaze. 

_ Reki was here?!  _

Reki had been obviously avoiding him all week, being distant in school, unwilling to speak to him outside of class, and refusing to skate with him entirely. Langa didn't entirely understand why Reki was mad, so what if he broke his promise to not skate against Adam. Skating against Adam gave him a rush that he never felt anywhere else, he couldn't just give that up. 

But in that moment, when Langa's eyes met Reki's he realized that it didn't matter. This past week without Reki had been torture, he couldn't imagine continuing to fight with his best friend. He knew that no matter what it took he would make up with Reki. Even if that meant crawling on his hands and knees begging for forgiveness, or never skating against Adam again. Langa would do it, for Reki he realized he would do anything. 

When Langa saw Reki he nearly leaped from his skateboard and grabbed the redhead right there, finishing the race be damned. But he knew that his friend didn't come just to watch him forfeit, he came to see him win. So sending the wild haired boy a fleeting grin, Langa pushed himself harder than he ever had before, so he could finish this race and finally patch things up with Reki. 

With his heart now racing in anticipation, Langa pushed himself even harder, drove himself to go even faster. He saw the turn coming up in front of him, but instead of slowing down to take the corner, he crouched lower and rushed straight over the edge. 

The air flowing around him was exhilarating, the feeling of flying so high above the ground reminded him so much of snowboarding he could almost cry. Reaching down to grip the edge of his board he executed one flip and then two, gracefully twirling himself in the air before he came down hard onto the ground below just meters behind Joe. 

What happened after his exciting jump, he wasn’t entirely sure. Somehow Langa had managed to come out in first during the race. He felt like his mind went blank towards the end as his instincts kicked into overdrive allowing him to edge out Joe by mere centimeters. Langa didn't recall any of this because as soon as he crossed the finish line a loud snap echoed from below him and he went tumbling to the ground. 

Looking behind him, Langa saw the front of his board had snapped completely in half, wooden splinters sticking out in all directions. Despite the crowd roaring his name in joy at his win, he could feel the tears prickling at the back of his eyes as he gazed down at his beloved board. The board Reki had spent countless hours crafting just for him months before. 

His skateboard was more than just a board, it was a symbol of his and Reki's relationship, it reminded him of the energetic redhead who spent hours and hours plastered to Langa's side showing him skateboarding videos, or helping him learn a trick. Reki was the first friend Langa had made since his dad died, the first relationship he had that had pulled him out of the dark cloud that had hung over his head ever since he lost his father months and months before. Even only knowing the redhead for a few short months, Langa didn't know what he would do without his friend. He couldn't even find a way to divide his identity from Reki. To him he wasn't just Langa, he was Langa and Reki, always together, joined at the hip... But if the board was broken, what did that symbolize about their friendship? Was it some sort of sign from the universe that he and Reki were done, for good?  


Slumping to his knees, Langa grasped the edges of his board with shaking hands, trying to keep the tears from spilling over. He gazed up at Joe who was looking down at him with a strange look in his eyes. 

"Can it be fixed?" Langa heard his voice wobble slightly as he fought to control his emotions, but at this point he was beyond caring about anything besides his board.

Joe looked awkward to a second and scrubbed at the back of his neck, obviously completely unprepared to handle the normally serious boy nearly breaking down in tears over the sight of his board. 

"Well, skateboards are pretty expendable. It would probably just be better to buy a new one." 

Langa's eyes flashed with hurt at the idea that his board, this symbol of Reki and their friendship irreparably broken. With a surprising amount of emotion in his voice, Langa stroked the yeti design painted on the back of the board, which an enthusiastic Reki had drawn after Langa had spent the night at his house and they spent hours late into the night telling horror stories, leaving Reki a shaking mess under the covers and Langa in a fit of giggles over his scaredy cat of a friend. Even that usually happy memory was tainted by the image of Langa's board lying shattered around his feet.  


"It’s not good if it’s not this one." Langa was silent for a few moments as he stared down at the rough wooden shards and felt a tear silently slip from his eye. "Reki made it." 

Joe's face suddenly morphed from one of concern to understanding. He graced Langa with a small smile, pulled him to his feet and placed the two halves of the board in the blue haired boy's pliant hands. 

"Well if Reki made you that board, then surely he's the only one who can fix it. Guess you better go find him then." 

With a rough slap to his back Joe sent him on his way and Langa set off with a renewed purpose.  _ He had to find Reki. He had to apologize and make things right.  _ Racing back up the course towards where he had last seen the redhead, Langa felt himself scanning the crowds wildly, looking for a telltale glimpse of crimson, or the blue of Reki’s signature bandana. 

Panting, he made it back to the spot that Reki had been standing at before. He glanced around hurriedly, hoping that the shorter boy had stayed to wait for him, but all that remained at that point on the track was a small group of skaters discussing the last race. 

“Woah, look it’s Snow! I can’t believe he was able to pull ahead after being so far behind. Guess that spunky redhead was right, Snow really does get some wicked air. Good thing he never took my bet or I’d be out some serious cash right now.”

_Redhead?_ _Were they talking about Reki? Did Reki really believe from the get go that he could win that race?_

Langa ran up to the short brown-haired man wearing a snapback, spooking the skaters as they realized that they had been overheard. 

“Where is he?” Langa knew he probably looked half-mad, hair matted down with sweat and eyes wild as he searched frantically for his friend. 

The skater group glanced between each other nervously, obviously confused by the question. “Er-who?”

If Langa’s hands hadn’t been full of the mangled pieces of his skateboard he probably would have grabbed the shorter man and shaken him roughly. 

“Reki! Where’s Reki?”

The men kept giving him strange looks and seemed to be backing away slowly, as if he wouldn’t notice they were stepping away from him if they moved slow enough.

“Goddamn it! The redhead that was standing right here! Where. Is. He?”

The group froze at the surprising amount of force in the pale boy’s words, and the one Langa suspected was the leader blurted out-

“Oh, he headed back up to the top of the track. He must’ve gone to-”

Before the man had even finished Langa was sprinting up the slope, pressing the broken pieces of his precious board to his chest so he wouldn’t lose them in his frantic climb up the hill. 

“Reki?! Reki?! Where are you?”

The crowd near the top of the slope was massive, Langa was scanning constantly for a sign of red hair or a green hoodie. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a flash of red and the familiar green of Reki’s hoodie. Breathing a sigh of relief Langa dropped his hand on his shoulder and spun him around only to be met with a complete stranger. 

“You’re not Reki.” Langa couldn’t help the disappointment from seeping out of his voice at the sight of a hoodie that upon closer inspection was a bit too dark to be the same one Reki was wearing earlier, and as he gazed at the brown eyes of the man in front of him he noticed that the stranger’s hair was actually more orange than Reki’s fiery red, and the man’s eyes were the entirely wrong shade of brown. 

“Er no- actually I’m Hiroki.” The man’s eyes softened in concern as he patted Langa on the shoulder, “But I hope you find who you’re looking for.”

Langa barely heard anything the man said, as soon as he realized the stranger wasn’t Reki his eyes were on the prowl again and he made his way deeper into the crowd to find his friend. 

“Reki?!”

Langa barely noticed the next race had started, as the crowd pressed against him tightly trying to catch a glimpse of the next match. He frantically fought the tide of spectators and scanned the crowd desperately trying sight of his shorter friend. He finally made his way into a gap in the tide of people when he heard a voice echoing in the loudspeakers above him, pulling him from his task. 

“On the other hand… Snow!”

At the sound of his name over the speakers, Langa froze and turned his gaze towards the loudspeakers where Adam was standing in the middle of the track over an unconscious Cherry. _What happened?_ _How did Cherry get hurt so badly?_

“You’re amazing. You should be able to go with me. To be my Eve.”

Adam was standing calmly above his competitor, orating to the crowd while Cherry lay painfully in the dirt. 

Initially, skating against Adam was all he had wanted. He wanted the opportunity to feel that moment of intense excitement and adrenaline as he skated again. But in that moment Adam wasn’t someone to look up to, he was disgusted by the sight of Adam making the whole sport of skateboarding into his sick, perverted fantasy. Adam was the reason Reki was ignoring Langa. If not for Adam, Reki would still be here right now, by his side. 

_ Reki… _

Snapping out of his haze, Langa turned away from the bright lights of the screen and fought his way towards the entrance. 

He had gone through nearly the entire circuit and he hadn’t caught sight of the wild redhead. He was nearly about to give up when a small hand placed itself on his shoulder. 

Langa turned and was surprised to see Miya of all people looking up at him in concern. While Miya was the closest in age in his new friend group besides Reki, Langa and Miya rarely talked. Miya seemed to be better friends with Reki, always teasing and goading the redhead with his signature taunting humor. 

Since Langa was so resigned and often quiet around anyone who wasn’t Reki, it seemed that him and Miya never really took the time to get close, and the pair was rarely alone together. 

“He left Langa.”

For a moment Langa wasn’t quite sure who they were talking about, but as he took in Miya’s tense stance and comforting hand he suddenly realized exactly who he was referring to. 

“Oh-” Suddenly it was like all the energy rushed right out of him, he felt his grip on the board relax and the broken fragments tumble out of his hands to clatter loudly onto the ground. 

_ “That dumbass…”  _ Miya whispered under his breath and let out a loud sigh before doing something that he hadn’t done to someone in years, not since before all his friends left him because they felt like he was looking down on them, he wrapped his shorter arms around Langa’s lean frame and folded up the taller boy in a tight hug. 

Langa felt himself relax slightly in the younger boy’s grip. Feeling some of the tension in his body begin to melt away as Miya rubbed his hands in slightly stiff circles across his back. 

The moment was brief, and soon Miya was pulling himself away, obviously slightly uncomfortable with the close physical contact. 

“I think he just needs some space Langa, give me your skateboard and I’ll try to go talk to him for you. Hopefully by the end of the weekend, he’ll be ready to forgive you for real!”

Langa had been reaching down to retrieve the pieces of his board when Miya’s words froze him in place. _He didn’t want to give up his skateboard._ _Even to Miya._ But the normally precocious boy’s surprisingly earnest look gave Langa the courage to slowly pass over the board into the young teen’s waiting hands.

“I think you should go home and get some rest, Langa. I promise I’ll call you tomorrow after I talk to Reki.” 

Langa nodded slowly as he numbly got to his feet. All the adrenaline and anxiety of racing, breaking his board and trying to find Reki seemed to catch up with him and Langa felt dead on his feet. 

He stumbled slowly towards the entrance where he had parked his scooter and with shaking hands managed to insert the keys into the ignition. Luckily at this late hour it was unlikely there were many people on the road, so with a loud sigh, and a longing look behind him towards the bright lights of S, Langa slowly drove himself home. 

  
  


Little did he notice the keen veridian eyes watching his wobbly exit with obvious concern. As soon as Langa rounded the corner and was gone from sight, Miya swept his way over towards a lone bush near the entrance and rooted around inside until he found what he was looking for, the thing he had hidden there just minutes before. In the harsh streetlights Miya was able to recognize the familiar design of abstractly shaped gears in bright colors painted on the back of the familiar board. He drew his hand slowly across the scratches that marred the orange paint, knowing that each and every one of the deep grooves told a different story about tenacity, determination and drive of the skateboard’s owner. 

“Oh Reki, what the hell did you do?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So once again so sorry about all this angst right in the beginning, but I swear we're through the worst of it at this point! 
> 
> Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far!


	3. For You to Remember Me by

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reki felt himself begin to chuckle at the sheer incredulity of his situation. Less than a day away from switching schools and leaving Okinawa because of his best friend, and now here he was about to fix a board for the same boy who used skateboarding to break his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again,   
> Looks like I once again couldn't help myself and decided to post this chapter as soon as I finished editing it...  
> Thanks to everyone who left kudos and comments, it means so much to me to see people enjoying my story!
> 
> TW: Depiction of panic attack in this chapter, if you'd like to skip, stop reading at “All it took was a couple of months and this stupid tournament for Langa to go back on his promise.” and skip to "Suddenly embarrassed..."

Without his skateboard, Reki’s walk home took much longer than expected. It was nearly 3 AM by the time he stumbled his way inside his house. Trying his best not to wake his family, he snuck his way back up towards his room in the dark. 

Once he reached the safety of his bedroom, Reki felt everything that he had spent the past few hours shakily trying to hold together slowly begin to fall apart. With a choked sob he threw himself down onto the bed and began to let the tears flow freely, trying to muffle the sound of his cries with his pillow, so as not to wake his sister in the room next door. 

Reki felt as though he had swallowed shards of broken glass. He could barely breathe through the pain of what he had done. He nearly regretted walking out of S and leaving his skateboard and pin behind, but he knew it was the only option. Reki couldn't stand to be in Langa's life if he kept pushing himself so hard. Not only did he feel as though his best friend was leaving him in the dust, but every time his friend raced Reki was terrified it would be Langa's last. 

Maybe his current pain would be worth it, maybe with Reki gone Langa would finally learn some self control and would stop putting himself in dangerous situations. He knew it was unlikely, but the thought gave him brief comfort that he was making the right decision. 

After what felt like hours, his cries had subsided to occasional silent tears and Reki just felt numb. After days of intense emotion swirling around thoughts of his friend, the numbness was welcome. It helped clear his head and gave him the opportunity to come up with a plan. 

He knew he couldn't stay here. A week of ignoring Langa taught him that being in the blue-eyed boy's presence would only cause him to apologize and fall back into old patterns. He knew that everything around Okinawa was a stark reminder of skateboarding and Langa. Every side street, restaurant, and graffitied underpass told a different story, each one engraved in Reki's heart like a tattoo. He couldn’t stay here, it would be too painful, a daily reminder of what he had to give up to keep Langa safe. 

Knowing that his swirling thoughts would likely keep him up at night, Reki pulled out his phone and began researching. Trying to find any way to make his escape. 

* * *

  
  


"I want to transfer schools."

Reki's mom started in shock, and the dish she was washing slipped gracelessly from her hands to fall back into the sink with a loud thud. 

"Reki, honey. It's the middle of the school year. Why would you want to transfer?"

She turned her concerned gaze on her son. Reki had been acting strangely for nearly a week, but today he looked even worse than usual. His hair was a bedraggled mess, his clothes were wrinkled and his puffy eyes were bloodshot and underlined by dark bags. 

"Is this about Langa?"

Reki tensed at the pale boy's name coming off his mom's lips. He nodded slowly and felt his eyes begin to water. He fisted a hand into the fabric of his t-shirt as his heart began to constrict painfully. 

"I-I just can't be around him anymore. It hurts too much."

Masae saw the intense pain in her son's eyes, and was instantly alarmed. In her 17 years of raising Reki she had never seen him look so distraught. Her normally happy-go-lucky son seemed to nearly be on the verge of a breakdown, and she was completely unprepared on how to respond. She knew she couldn’t take away her son’s pain, but she knew she could always lend a comforting shoulder to cry on and so she quickly ran to her boy to wrap him up in a comforting hug, heedless of the suds still covering her fingers. 

"Whatever you need, baby. Whatever you need."

* * *

Reki spent the rest of the day packing, trying to force his mind away from what exactly he was doing. He knew it was cowardly to run away without an explanation, but he couldn’t think of any better option. Langa didn’t need him anymore. It would be easier for him to fade quietly out of Langa’s life, than to make a loud explosive mess of things before he went. 

He was in the middle of pulling out his clothes, trying to decide which hoodies to pack in his much-too-small suitcase when he heard his mom yelling from across the house. 

“Reki dear, there’s a friend here to see you.”

The redhead poked his head out of his bedroom, scowling slightly in annoyance, “Tell Langa I don’t want to see him.”

He waited a few moments for his mother to respond, but to his surprise he was met with only silence. He walked a few steps further out of his room, making his way down the hall towards the front door where his mother was standing in the doorway chatting politely with a figure much too short to be Langa. 

“Miya? What are you doing here?”

The young boy glanced up at Reki with a hard look in his eyes, spoke something softly to his mother and then strode past her into the house, glaring daggers at the redhead the whole while. Once he reached the taller teen, Miya grabbed Reki’s wrist in a surprisingly strong grip and tugged him away to another corner of the house.

Reki shot his mom a small smile and managed to blurt out, “Guess we’ll be hanging out in my room.” Before he was pulled roughly back into his bedroom and the door slammed shut with a loud bang. 

Miya abruptly released Reki’s arm and gazed about the room quickly, scowling at what he saw there before throwing a remarkably full black duffle bag down on the floor and turning his gaze back towards the redhead. 

Reki rubbed at his now sore wrist, gazing down at the scuffed floorboards beneath his feet, refusing to meet the young teen’s heated gaze. 

“Jeez Miya, what the fuck? You can’t just storm into my house with absolutely no warning. What were you thinking?”

At the taller boy’s words, Miya’s temper suddenly seemed to snap, and the smaller teen pressed forward relentlessly, forcing himself deep into Reki’s personal space. 

“What was I thinking? What were you thinking? You just left yesterday without saying anything! You left your skateboard and your S pin so I know you don’t plan on ever coming back. But fuck Reki, you can’t do shit like that!”

Miya paused for a moment and once again glanced around the room, obviously noting the partially packed suitcase sitting on Reki’s bed. 

“And now you’re just leaving. Running away like a scared little dog. What, were you too insecure about Snow being so much better than you that you decided to cut your losses? Because I seem to recall you telling me that real friends don’t do things like that to their friends. And I thought you promised me that you were going to be my friend.”

Miya was panting in anger at the end of his rant, eyes surprisingly shiny as he glared up at the taller boy. Reki felt a part of himself cave inward at the sight of his young friend seeming so broken by his actions. He had never really thought about how he might be affecting the others. Instantly the tide of guilt rushed over him and Reki felt so choked by it he could barely breathe. He managed to bite out a whispered, 

“It isn’t like that.”

Miya’s face hardened again, but he backed off slightly before responding. “What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you…”

Reki let out a stuttering breath, trying to get his racing heart back under control enough to respond. 

“It isn’t like that Miya. I’m not leaving because I’m insecure.” Reki carded a hand roughly through his hair, mussing the already chaotic locks. “I mean I am insecure, what with all of you guys being so much better than me, and it feels like I’m falling further and further behind. But I could’ve found a way to handle that. Yeah it hurts like a bitch that I’m never going to be at the same level as you or Langa, but I’ve always known I’m not cut out to be a master skater. It would have been okay.”

Reki tried to send his friend a weak smile, but instead of comforting the younger boy his face grew only more concerned. 

“I’m not sure if Langa told you, but after he raced against Adam the first time he promised me he would never race him again. I trusted him when he told me that. Because I was-no I am- so afraid of Adam. I couldn’t bear the thought of Langa getting hurt.”

Reki let out a long wet sigh before collapsing himself down on the bed, unable to make eye contact with Miya as he struggled to keep his emotions in check. 

“All it took was a couple of months and this stupid tournament for Langa to go back on his promise.”

_ Oh great, now he was crying.  _

“After he told me he wanted to race Adam again, all I could see was him lying in a hospital bed, unmoving with machines forcing him to live. All because he wanted to beat that  _ fucking skater _ !”

_ Fuck he could barely breathe.  _ Each breath sounded harsh and forced in his own ears as he clenched his fists tightly in his lap and fought to continue.

“I couldn’t do that again. Not with Langa. I can’t stay by his side as he pushes himself harder and harder. He won’t ever stop, he loves the rush too much to ever put down the board. And I know it’s my fault for showing him skating in the first place. But I can’t stand by and watch him KILL HIMSELF!” 

Reki was nearly screaming at this point. His vision had gone dark around the edges and all he could hear was the beating of his own heart echoing loudly inside his head. 

**_Bah-Dum_ **

_ Langa lying sprawled across the ground, blood pooling underneath him and his arm bent at an unnatural angle. _

**_Bah-Dum_ **

_ A familiar nest of blue hair barely visible under the cover of stark white bandages, a large bloodstain slowly spreading across the side. _

**_Bah-Dum_ **

_ Sirens wailing as a gurney is rushed into the E.R., doctors frantically rushing about trying to staunch the flow of blood coming from the pale boy. _

**_Bah-Dum_ **

_ A doctor rubbing two paddles together before they press them to Langa’s smooth unblemished chest causing his back to arch off the table. They repeat once, twice… and then… nothing.  _

**_Bah-Dum_ **

_ A sheet slowly being pulled over a familiar head of sky blue hair, covering the boy’s pale face, much paler than it had ever been in life.  _

**_Bah-Dum_ **

Reki couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think. All he could see was Langa’s bruised and broken body on a constant loop. He felt as though his throat had completely closed up and he was slowly suffocating. His vision began to blur as he fought to keep the images from his head. He distantly heard movement, and felt the press of cool hands against his forearms. But he couldn’t pull himself from his swirling thoughts

“-ki! Reki! You need to calm down.”

Suddenly swimming up out of the darkness was a familiar set of green eyes widened in panic gazing back at him. 

“Reki, you’re having a panic attack. You need to breathe. Can you breathe with me?”

Somehow Reki managed to piece together what Miya was saying, and miraculously found the strength to nod. His head felt like he was moving through syrup. Slowly, Miya grasped his wrist and placed it over his heart. 

“Okay Reki breathe when I breathe.”

Comforted by the loud, slow breaths of the boy in front of him, Reki slowly managed to calm his racing heart and slow his rasping breaths. It felt like hours, but in reality it had likely been only minutes since he had begun to hyperventilate. Slowly coming back to himself, he finally noticed the dampness coating his own cheeks, he hadn’t even known he had been crying. 

Suddenly embarrassed, Reki scrubbed at his face and kept his head bowed, refusing to look at the smaller boy in front of him. Sure that if he did he would see only pity. 

“I’ve gotten them before too.” Reki looked up in surprise at the soft voice of the dark-haired teen sitting down on the bed beside him. “After all my friends abandoned me. I used to get panic attacks too.” 

Somehow, that gave Reki a strange sort of comfort. Made him feel less alone. 

The pair sat in silence for a few long minutes. Staring at the ceiling and breathing quietly into the still air of the room. 

Miya suddenly sat up and turned to look at Reki, who turned over to stare at him. 

“I think I understand why you have to leave now, and I’m not mad anymore. But I’m probably not the one you should’ve told all that to.”

Reki sat up again with a loud sigh, tugging at the ends of his hair in annoyance. “I don’t think I can speak to him. I mean I lost it just talking to you. If I see him I’ll probably break and never be able to put the pieces back together.”

The dark-haired teen eyed him with a look of keen understanding, “I’ll watch out for him for you. Since you won’t be around anymore. But in return I want a favor.” 

The redhead looked up in surprise, shocked that Miya was willing to go along with his hairbrained plan… His panic attack must have been worse than he thought for Miya to suddenly change his tune.

“I’ll do anything.”

Miya sent him a cheeky grin before jumping off the bed and reaching for the duffle bag Reki had almost forgotten he had come in with. 

“Okay I lied, I have two favors to ask of you…” Reki smirked at the smaller boy, completely unsurprised with the trick. “First, Langa broke his board yesterday. I was wondering if you would at least be able to fix it before you go. It’s the least you could do for him.”

Reki grimaced as Miya fished out two large pieces of a familiar skateboard, completely snapped in half with wooden pieces sticking out in all directions. 

“How the fuck did he manage to do that?” The teen felt himself begin to chuckle at the sheer incredulity of his situation. Less than a day away from switching schools and leaving Okinawa because of his best friend, and now here he was about to fix a board for the same boy who used skateboarding to break his heart. 

Miya was silent for a long moment before he too began to crack up and laugh loudly at the situation, and suddenly all the tension Reki hadn’t realized he was holding was gone. He wasn’t Reki the cowardly insecure skater, instead he was just a normal teenager giggling hysterically with one of his friends. 

As the laughter began to die down, he reached for the board and gazed at it silently for a few moments. He gently traced his fingers along the yeti painted along the bottom, the same yeti he had painted all those months before. 

“I can’t fix this. It would only break again in a couple of months.” Reki looked up from the board and noticed Miya’s face fall in disappointment at his words.  _ He couldn’t fix it, but there had to be something he could do…  _ Reki sat for a moment pondering how to make things up to his friend. 

“That’s it!”

Reki leapt from his seat with a cry and rushed out the door, pounding his way across the house to his studio. He heard Miya’s soft footsteps behind him as he made his way into the room no one but his family and Langa had ever seen. 

“Woah! I knew you made boards Reki, but I didn’t know you were this good. I mean your own board is an old piece of crap.”

Reki scoffed at his friend before gesturing for him to come look at something. His latest project. It was meant to be an upgraded board for Langa with a more refined shape and a stronger toe clip, but he hadn’t completed it yet since he couldn’t decide what wheels and truck to add. But with Langa’s current board out of commission he could just use the extra parts from that to add to this deck for the time being and when Langa wanted to swap out for new parts it would be easy. 

He didn’t realize he had been mumbling to himself until Miya swatted him upside the head. “You know, for a hairbrained dumbass, I think this board might actually work.”

Reki felt himself smile despite himself. He realized that this board was probably the best board he had ever designed, tailored exactly to Langa’s bizarre skating style. But he also knew once the board was complete he would be out of Langa’s life forever, which was a bitter pill to swallow, and one he didn’t want to dwell very long on. 

“What are you going to paint on it?” Miya’s words snapped him out of his self-reflection. 

Very few people knew that aside from making skateboards, Reki was also fairly talented at drawing. He had almost a dozen sketchbooks resting on a shelf in his studio. He knew that whatever he drew on the board had to be meaningful. A last message to his once best friend. 

Grabbing the latest sketchbook from its place on the shelf Reki began flipping through the pages quickly searching for a familiar image. Once he found what he was looking for, he turned the sketchpad over to show to his shorter friend. 

“How about this?”

Miya looked at the drawing for a few moments before nodding to himself in agreement. “I think it’s perfect.” Miya pointed to the figures in the drawing, “You and Langa?”

Reki looked back at the image he had drawn just a short week before. Only a couple of days before the tournament had been announced and Reki’s life went on a hell spiral. He smiled at the image that reminded him of the many good memories he had with his blue-haired friend. 

“Yeah. Me and Langa.”

  
  


Reki spent the rest of the long afternoon shut away in his studio with Miya. At first he was surprised that the shorter teen wanted to stay. But after a while, working on the new board while Miya played a game on his phone from his spot in the corner made Reki feel just a little bit less alone. 

It was nearly midnight by the time the board was complete. By the time he was done Reki, and even Miya were covered in splotches of violet, blue and orange after an impromptu paint fight. He was exhausted, but he couldn’t wipe the tired grin from his face at the sight of the completed board. 

“So the epoxy will dry overnight and then in the morning I can attach the extra pieces and it’ll be finished.”

Miya stared at the board with obvious reverence, “You know Reki, this is fucking amazing. You may not be as good as the rest of us as skating. But I’ve never met anyone who could do something like this… you’ve got an insane talent dude. Don’t waste it.”

Reki thinks he may have gone into shock at Miya’s words. The dark-haired boy rarely ever gave out any sort of compliment, and if he did he always meant it with 100% of his being. So the fact that Miya thought he was that talented, may have helped bolster his nearly non-existent self esteem just a little bit.

With a cocky grin, Reki and Miya made their way out of his studio and back towards his bedroom so Miya could collect his things. The shorter boy began placing the remains of Langa’s board, sans wheels and trucks, back into the bag before he suddenly froze. 

“Hey Reki.”

“Hmm…”

“Remember when I said I had two favors to ask?”

Reki nodded and began making his way from his position on the bed towards Miya’s side.

“Well, I want you to have this.”

Without warning Miya pulled a scuffed board out of the depths of the duffle bag and shoved it at Reki’s chest. Recognizing the same board he had just abandoned at S the night before, he began sputtering out a refusal when Miya clapped his hand over his mouth with a stern look.

“You may have given up on skating Kyan Reki, but skating hasn’t given up on you. It doesn’t hurt anyone for you to take your board with you, and you love skateboarding too much to just give it up entirely… Take it, please. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

Stunned into silence by Miya’s words, Reki felt his grip around the familiar worn edge of his board tighten. Miya, seemingly satisfied by the redheads response, casually picked up his bag off the floor and slowly sauntered out of the room, waving a casual goodbye behind him. 

“I’m gonna miss you, you dumbass.”

By the time Reki had the forethought to call back to his friend, Miya was already gone. So the skater whispered his goodbye to the silent air of his room. 

“I’m gonna miss you too catboy.”

  
  


With his move to his new school becoming increasingly imminent, Reki was nearly beside himself in a panic. He needed to finish packing, attach the wheels to Langa’s board, and call his aunt in Tokyo to make sure they knew what time to meet him at the train station. Thoughts abuzz Reki knew for the second night in a row, he would likely be completely unable to sleep. 

Despite his tiredness, he was feeling in a productive sort of mood and made his way like a snowstorm through his room, carefully collecting items he would be taking to Tokyo with him. His spurt of late-night energy allowed him to quickly finish packing all the belongings he would take with into the suitcase his mom had left for him. In a spur of the moment decision he even made his way back down to his studio to collect his most recent sketchbook to add to his bag. 

By the time he had sorted through all his things, and flung himself onto his bed, the clock on the table beside him was blinking a measly 2:38 AM. Reki’s mind was still jittery with a frantic sort of energy, and couldn’t confine himself to sitting still and doing nothing. 

With a sigh, Reki retrieved his sketchbook and a sharpened pencil before settling back down on his bed and let his mind wander as he sketched. 

He drew until the early morning hours, mind flicking with memories of Okinawa. Thoughts of his younger sisters, his mom, skateboarding… Langa. Reki couldn’t stop himself from thinking about the blue-haired Canadian. He kept imagining the boy’s normally stoic face lighting up into a smile as he landed a trick, or the serious expression he wore any time food was mentioned, the image of the pale boy catching serious air for the first time, in a way that slowed time and made him imagine snowflakes. With his thoughts so focused on the blue-eyed skater it came to no surprise when Reki finished his drawing to find himself staring back at a startlingly accurate pencil sketch of his best friend. 

Gently gripping the edge of the page, he pulled the paper from his notebook with a small sigh. With his thoughts swirling around Langa all night long, he realized he needed to give the boy a better goodbye than just an impersonal skateboard. Turning over the page he had just drawn on, he took a deep breath and began writing in wobbly kanji.

_ Langa, _

_ Yeah I know I’m a coward for telling you everything in a letter. But I couldn’t find the words to face you in person, so here’s to hoping I can find them on the page… _

By the time the sun began to drift over the horizon, Reki was exhausted, his hands covered in paint and graphite from constantly erasing and scratching out the words in his note. He had stayed up for over 48 hours at this point, and he knew he certainly looked it. But today was the day. The day that he would leave sunny Okinawa for good to swap it out for the bustling city of Tokyo. 

After finally attaching the wheels to Langa’s new board, Reki quickly made his way across town, board strapped across his back. He knew Langa liked to sleep in when given the chance, so it would be easy for him to drop the letter and the board at his doorstep and the blue-haired man would be none the wiser. 

Reki stood in front of the apartment door for what felt like ages, rooted in place by nerves.  _ This was it. This was truly the end _ . He didn’t think it had hit him until now what he was really doing. There was no going back from this moment. With shaking hands he pulled the board from his bag and placed it gently against the doorframe. Reaching into another pocket of his bag, Reki pulled out the letter he had written the night before. He stared at the kanji printed on the envelope for a long moment, and traced his fingers along the familiar letters before letting the paper fall to the floor with an aborted sob. 

“I’m sorry.” He whispered to the wooden door, which offered him no response in return, before turning away and walking slowly back the way he came, gentle tears streaming down his cheeks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that I am absolutely the worst person for continually hurting Reki like this, but something in my sadistic shriveled little heart can't seem to help itself. 
> 
> This is the last heavy angst filled chapter, since the next part will take place after a 3 year time skip.
> 
> Thanks for reading, see you all in a couple of days when I inevitably post the next chapter early!


	4. The Future is a Reflection of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who's ready for a time skip?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I once again, couldn't help myself and decided to upload this chapter as soon as I finished it!
> 
> I decided to try something new this chapter, and the style is completely new to me, so let me know if you guys totally hate it or something...
> 
> I'm kinda on the fence about this chapter, there's some parts I really like and there's parts I really don't like, but I wanted to get this chapter out ASAP, so I didn't want to re-write it. 
> 
> Thanks again for all the kudos and comments, I'm shocked its been less than a week since I first posted and I'm already up to nearly 1500 hits, so thanks everyone!

**Japan’s Next Up-and-Coming Skater Hasegawa Langa Set To Join Japanese Olympic Team**

Half-Japanese skateboarder Hasegawa Langa, age 20, affectionately referred to as ‘Snow’ by his fans, wowed the skating world during his first year of professional competition. Finishing 3rd in street skating at X-Games Minneapolis with a respectable 87.00, and sweeping the Damn Am and Skate Ark Japan, Hawagawa is ranked as the 4th best skater in the world, second in Japan only to SLS World Championship runner-up Chinen Miya, 17, who placed 2nd on the World Skate rankings. The two Japanese skaters are often competing against each other on the world stage but they are far from rivals. Chinen and Hasegawa are commonly seen practicing together at the Japan National Team’s closed course, and Snow often appears in photos on Chinen’s instagram page which boasts over a million followers. 

Snow joined the skating scene just three years ago at age 17 when he first moved from Japan from Canada, where he spent the first 15 years of his life snowboarding. Getting his start on the streets of Okinawa, Snow first learned to skate by participating in late-night skateboard racing while still in high school. Hasegawa’s racing background and snowboarding roots often come into play in competition as seen by his gravity-defying tricks and a unique impromptu style rarely seen in professional skaters. 

Despite a large cult following for Thrasher magazine’s ‘Skater of the Year’, Snow has a very small social media presence. Often known as the ‘Ice Prince’ by his fellow skaters, Snow is often seen as serious and cold during competition, which according to fans only adds to his charm. While little about his personal life is known, one fact that fans have picked up on is Snow’s superstition about his board. Hasegawa has had hundreds of sponsorship offers to replace his current board, detailing a fire and ice dragon, but it seems the blue-eyed heartthrob is set on skating with his custom board. When interviewed about the board in question Hasegawa stated it had “sentimental value because it was made by a close personal friend.” Who might this friend be? Sources have yet to determine Snow’s mystery friend, as the skater is rarely seen outside of competitions and practice.

The top 16 skaters on the World Skate rankings have an automatic pass to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the first Olympics to feature skateboarding on the international level. So looks like we will be seeing much more of Hasegawa come August as a part of the Japanese street skateboarding team. 

Comments · Sort by **Latest**

Slowdownn12 - 5m ago

An amazing pro debut!

Kickashi - 7m ago

I can’t believe he only missed out on gold at the X Games by a couple of points

Sk8ergurrrrl - 8m ago

Snow is soooo hawt! I can’t believe he made the national team!

I<3Sn0w_437 - 8m ago

I never cared about skateboarding until I saw this beautiful man skate! 

Terra-pine-skates - 10m ago

If Snow doesn’t get a medal at #Tokyo2020 I’m gonna eat my skateboard. 

Blaz3_B0ards - 11m ago

I can’t wait to see him at the #Olympics in August! Congrats Snow, you finally did it!

\+ 149 Comments

  
  


* * *

  
  


_‘Have you thought about what kind of trucks you want?’_

_Langa peaked over the man’s shoulder, trying to get a peak at whatever he was working on. For some reason he couldn’t seem to get a clear image, just hints of blues and whites and gray, despite the other man being significantly shorter._

_‘Trucks? Like pick-up trucks?’_

_‘What, no… Langa you’re hilarious!’_

_The man began to turn around, laughing heartily at the blue-haired man, but when he finally turned to face Langa, instead of a pair of vibrantly colored amber eyes, all Langa was left to stare at was a blank face, a face with no face at all._

“Aughhhh!” 

Flinging himself upright in the bed, Langa breathed heavily, grabbing his chest in a panic for a moment before his muddled senses began to piece together the familiar surroundings of his apartment, and he realized he had been dreaming. 

_Wow, haven’t had a dream like that in nearly two years…_

His long hair was stuck to his neck and forehead with sweat, so the tall skater made his way to the bathroom for a cold morning shower to help wash away the fading memories of the strange dream. 

  
  


Langa wouldn’t say that he never thought about Reki, he certainly did, although much less than when his former best friend first moved away, and all he was left with as a reminder of the boy was a brand new skateboard and a short letter. But occasionally when he saw a flash of red hair, or a particularly cool new trick his mind was always brought back to the flame-haired boy who disappeared out of his life as quickly as a snuffed out candle. 

It had been nearly three years since the day he had woken up after his fateful S race against Joe and discovered the packages Reki left on his doorstep. After reading the redhead’s personal letter, Langa felt something inside himself pull loose and he vaguely remembers robotically shuffling back inside the apartment, falling into bed and refusing to move for nearly three days. 

The only thing that seemed to rouse him from his pain and get him up and out of bed was a visit from, surprisingly, Miya. The smaller boy barged into his room with no greeting, before flinging off the covers Langa had buried himself in and smacking him soundly across the face. 

“Langa you don’t just get to mope around and feel sorry for yourself. Reki left, and yeah that sucks. But we can’t do anything about that. So what are you going to do now?”

It was that sentence that bounced around in his head, even after the young teen had long gone, _What was he going to do now?_ Reki was gone, never coming back, because of him and his obsession of skating against Adam. 

He knew Reki would hate it if he knew that Langa was laid up in bed because of him, so with whatever mental strength he had left, Langa forced himself out of bed for the first time in days, and made his way to the kitchen to finally eat. When his mother saw him, she hugged him tightly and wept into his shoulder in relief. 

Langa spent the rest of the week debating whether or not he should continue skating S, since he had made it to the tournament semifinals and it felt wrong to back out at this point. But on the other hand, the tournament had been what caused Reki and Langa to fight in the first place. Because Reki thought Langa cared more about skating with Adam than skating with him. 

As it turned out, Langa never had to make a decision. The day before the semifinals, Langa got a strange call from Joe. Apparently Adam, or Shindo Ainosuke as he would later learn, had been arrested on charges of perjury. The police had gotten a warrant to search the man’s house, and to the surprise of literally no one who knew the man, the cops had found copious amounts of child pornography among his posessions. As the police dug deeper into Adam’s past, they eventually found out about the illegal skateboard racing ring he had started and shut S down for good. 

Adam was sentenced to a harsh 20 years in prison, and when the group heard the news, Joe, Cherry, Langa, Miya and Shadow went out to a fancy restaurant in celebration. Despite the excitement over Adam’s arrest, the group still felt incomplete without Reki by their side, and slowly, without S to hold them together, the group began to drift apart. 

Without Adam interfering in their relationship, Cherry finally got up the nerve to confess his feelings to Joe, and to Langa’s knowledge the men were now living together in Okinawa. Shadow ended up being promoted to owner of the flower shop he worked in and he was now dating some cute girl who he met at the shop. 

Since Miya was already on the national team, he devoted even more time to professional street skateboarding, and Langa, not wanting to give up skateboarding, one of the few connections to Reki he had left, decided to follow him. 

It had taken him countless hours of practice, and more than a few hospital trips, but finally, at age 19, Langa had been drafted to the national team and had been able to make a name for himself on the international skating circuit. Even though his friend wasn’t standing by his side anymore, he hoped that Reki was watching him from afar and was proud that he had continued to skate. 

  
  


Langa was jolted from his thoughts by a louding pounding at his front door, 

“Langa! You better be ready to go! We’re supposed to be at the course in twenty minutes!”

The blue-haired man rushed to finish his shower, quickly drying off and throwing on a comfortable t-shirt and pair of loose pants before tying up his damp hair into a messy bun on the back of his neck, and throwing open the door, only to be confronted with an annoyed looking Miya. 

“Jeez, Langa we do this every day. Why don’t you just get up earlier for once?”

Langa shrugged noncommittally, grabbing his board propped up by the door and swinging around towards the smaller teen with a small smile. 

“Wanna race? Loser has to buy breakfast.”

Miya’s green eyes sparkled mischievously at the idea of a contest, “I thought you’d never ask!”

**_Crack!_ **

Instead of a smooth landing off the end of his nosegrab, as the front wheels of Langa’s board hit the floor he heard a loud pop as the plastic toe grip holding his foot in place catastrophically failed, causing him to wobble precariously without the added stability of the clip. Unable to right himself, Langa tumbled to the floor in a heap, rolling quickly to his feet to prevent further injury. The other national team skaters eyed him for a moment, before going back to their own practice.

“Langa what the hell was that?! I’ve seen you do harder tricks in your sleep!” Miya yelled out across the course, skating quickly to the taller man’s side before doing a quick turn to stop himself. 

Langa scowled at the board at his feet, bending over to retrieve the broken piece from the floor. 

“It broke again.”

Miya glanced down at the scuffed and worn board and let out a loud sigh, “Jeez Snow, that’s the second time this month. Just get a new board already!”

Langa pinched his lips together in annoyance, glaring down at the younger teen in annoyance, “You know I can’t do that.”

Miya groaned before pinching his fingers together repeatedly, miming a mouth opening and closing while he talked in an affected, high pitched voice, “Yeah, Yeah, _Reki made me this board, I can’t just get rid of it._ ”

The black-haired teen rolled his eyes obnoxiously before continuing, “Langa you’re like a broken record at this point. If you’re not gonna get a new board can you at least consider letting someone do some upgrades on it, or at least some routine maintenance?”

Langa pinched his nose, feeling the beginnings of a headache forming behind his eyes as Miya dredged up the same argument they had been having for nearly a year. 

“If I do that, it’ll be like I’m forgetting about him and everything he did for me.”

“Jesus Langa you’re so fucking dramatic! It’s not like I’m asking you to burn your board or something. Just get some new wheels, upgrade your toe clip, get the decal restored, something like that. It’s really not that bad.”

While Miya was talking, Langa bent down to pick up his familiar board. While it wasn’t the same board Reki had first made for him when he moved to Okinawa, it was still the last thing his former friend had given him before he moved away without warning. It was one of the only things connecting him to that piece of his past, and he felt like not using the skateboard was like denying Reki. 

He traced a slender finger across the decal that he knew like the back of his hand. Starting on opposite ends of the board two dragons flew towards each other to meet in the middle forming a circular ouroboros symbol, a symbol of infinity. Both dragons were complete opposites, one made entirely of bright reds and oranges to mimic fluidly moving fire, and the other built of harsher lines and rich blues to form a dragon of ice. _Reki and Langa._

“You think you can do that?”

Langa looked up blankly, having completely zoned out while Miya was talking. The teen seemed to notice that the blue-haired man wasn’t listening to him at all and just fixed him with his signature annoyed look. 

“You didn’t hear a word I said... typical.” Miya skated away quickly, flying over to where they had left their bags before starting practice. He rummaged around for a few moments before pulling something small from his bag’s depths and skated his way back over to Langa. 

“You like my board, don’t you?” 

Despite being completely loyal to his current board, Langa couldn’t deny that Miya’s board was an absolute work of art. He had just gotten it commissioned a couple months before, and the skill of the crafter was obvious. Even to someone as oblivious as him. The board was thinner than Miya’s previous board, and having a slightly pointed front end which widened around the center of the board before tapering swiftly into a skinnier tailend which seemed to make it easier for the smaller boy to perform nose and tail grinds. Even the bottom decal was a work of art, crowded with chibi styled cats wearing headphones and playing video games. 

Langa nodded enthusiastically at Miya’s question, “Yeah, your board is pretty cool.”

The teen grinned sharply, pleased with his answer, “Well, if you like my board so much, you should go check this guy out. He specializes in custom boards, so he should have no trouble fixing yours up.”

Without warning Miya shoved a thin square of paper into his hand, _a business card_? Turning the card over, Langa took in the bright primary colors and font which decorated the front. 

**Blaze Boards**

_Custom Boards and Skateboard Parts_

“Blaze Boards?” 

Miya nodded, a strange look crossing his face that Langa was unable to read. “Just ask for Blaze, tell him Miya sent you, he’ll fix you up something real nice.”

With a tired sigh Langa pocketed the card and tucked his board under his arm and began walking to the bags stored off to the side. He had only taken a few steps forward when a sharp pressure pulled back on his sleeve stopping him in place, he almost seemed… nervous. 

“You’re going now?”

Langa shrugged, “I don’t see why not. I can’t practice on a broken board.” 

Ignoring the shorter boy’s protests, the pale-haired skater scooped up his bag and quickly exited the rink, waving absentmindedly behind him. 

Behind him, still standing on the edge on the edge of the course, Miya stood in open-mouthed shock staring after the stoic man. Muttering under his breath, the teen turned away and went back to practicing.

“Fuck, Reki’s gonna kill me.”

* * *

_I’d like to say I’m sorry for everything. That night in the rain, ignoring you, leaving without saying goodbye, all of it…_

* * *

Staring down at the business card in his hand, Langa glanced up at the awning of the building in front of him. The storefront didn’t look like much, just a small shop sandwiched between a tattoo parlor and an ice cream shop, but Miya didn’t give recommendations easily, so Langa thought it was at least worth stepping inside, if nothing else. 

Taking a deep breath, he approached the front door and pushed his way inside. A little bell over the door announced his arrival, and he heard a voice call out distantly from somewhere in the back of the store.

“Welcome to Blaze Boards, give me a moment and I’ll be right with you!”

Langa hummed quietly to himself and began gazing about the store. Despite the unobtrusive exterior, the inside of the shop absolutely screamed ‘skate shop’. An entire wall was just dedicated to the different types of boards you could purchase, while a display in the center of the store boasted a huge collection of different wheel types and styles. All the walls not covered by shelves were taken up by artwork, and a few skating posters. 

While the posters were cool, many of them he had seen before, so he wasn’t very impressed, but the artwork on the other hand was incredible. The art seemed to have no theme, a canvas painting of a set of intricately designed clock parts hung on the wall next to what looked like a rough charcoal sketch of a dragon. Either way, Langa was mesmerized. Without noticing he was even doing it he began to make his way towards an abstract painting hanging near the front desk, showing fluid blue and red designs flowing across the canvas, crashing into each other like waves. He reached his hand out to touch it when-

“So how can I help y-” Suddenly a yelp and a large crashing sound came from behind the counter, causing Langa to pull his eyes away from the painting and towards the source of the noise. 

Standing behind the counter was a leanly muscled man in a black tank top, whose arms were outstretched in front of him, grasping at air, a box lying on his side at his feet, obviously the source of the commotion. The lower half of the man’s face was covered with a black mask, remarkably similar to the one Cherry used to wear when he competed in S, and the stranger’s eyes were covered by a pair of steampunk style welding goggles. The man’s lack of sleeves showed off his defined arms one of which sported an incredibly detailed tattoo of gears and interlocking metal pieces, which almost made the man’s left arm look like a piece of machinery itself.

What stopped Langa in his tracks though was the man’s unique, fiery red undercut whose color immediately reminded Langa of Reki. Langa cursed himself internally, annoyed that his first assumption was that this stranger was his old friend. Plenty of people had red hair, and after three years Langa thought he had finally broken his habit of seeing Reki in every single redhead he met, but apparently not. 

Langa realized that he had been completely stuck in his own head for almost a minute as he was taking in the sight of the stranger. But to his surprise, the man seemed to be just as out of it as he was, the masked redhead seemed frozen in place, googled eyes seeming to stare directly at Langa. 

Usually fairly oblivious in social situations, even Langa could sense the tension in the room. He cleared his throat lightly and opened his mouth to speak when he was abruptly interrupted.

“Nuh Uh. Get out! I won’t serve you Lan-Snow! Just get out!”

The red-haired man looked annoyed, at least from what he could tell from his body language, since his face was a mystery. The man had crossed his arms tightly and his whole posture seemed incredibly tense. 

“Wait? How do you know my name?” 

While there were a few fanatic fans, most of the normal population had no idea who he was or what he looked like. Even fellow skateboarders were often unaware of who he was until he introduced himself. The man’s face turned slightly, seemingly looking at something over Langa’s shoulder. Unable to help himself, the blue-haired man followed the stranger’s gaze to a calendar pinned up near the door of the shop. Langa recognized it as the Japanese national team’s yearly calendar, the same one he had posed for the year before. Despite it being mid-April, the calendar proudly displayed a picture of Langa, dressed up in snowboarding gear while skateboarding over a mound of snow, which he knew was the picture used for February. 

For some reason, this annoyed Langa. This man -this stranger- hadn’t even let him speak a word and was already throwing him out just because he was _embarrassed_ that he was a fan and Langa had caught him in the act. 

“Look-I’m sorry if I embarrassed you. I can sign an autograph or something if you want. But Chinen Miya actually sent me here. I need my board fixed and he said you were one of the best.” 

The man sputtered for a moment, seemingly shocked at Langa’s statement, before shaking his head slowly and cursing softly under his breath. 

“You said Miya sent you? That’s the only reason why you’re here?” Surprisingly, the man’s voice was soft, almost gentle in tone. 

Langa nodded slowly to the man, still unsure whether or not he was going to try to throw him out again. The pair stood in silence, gazing intensely at each other for a few long moments. Or at least Langa assumed the other man was staring at him, it was hard to tell with the goggles.

“Ugh! Fuck! Fine. Let me have it!”

Langa felt his eyes go wide with shock, and he just stared blankly for the man with his mouth hanging slightly open, “Huh?”

The man sighed loudly and gestured impatiently, “The board, dumbass.”

“Oh! Yeah!” Eagerly, Langa handed the board to the man, who ever so delicately scooped it up out of his hands. 

The stranger seemed to stare at the board for intensely, trailing his fingers delicately over the painted design on the bottom, which had been nicked and scratched beyond belief after three years of intense use. The man seemed to ponder something for a second, Langa could see his forehead wrinkling slightly underneath the goggles before the stranger pulled the goggles off his eyes and set them to rest on the top of his short messy red hair and glanced up at Langa with a piercing set of amber-colored eyes. 

“You can call me Blaze. It’s a pleasure to work with you Snow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, I actually had to do real skateboarding research because I literally know nothing about this sport besides the anime...  
> Langa's skateboarding scores and style is actually based off a real skateboarder, Japan's Sora Shirai, while Miya is based off of Yuto Horigome, both of whom are slated to go to the Olympics this year in street skateboarding. Later on I am actually planning on both Langa and Miya competing, so we'll see how well I can do at describing skateboarding tricks I know nothing about... -_-
> 
> I hope you enjoyed my completely self indulgent throwing Adam in jail exposition I threw in there... I couldn't help myself. I refuse to even have him be mentioned in any other chapter of this fic, so I'm now wiping my hands of him.
> 
> Also just so you know, while Miya, Reki and Langa are the only main three around right now, I promise that Cherry, Joe and Shadow will be coming back to have a larger role a bit later in the story!

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if this chapter seemed to be a kick in the gut after what happened in episode 9, but I swear things get better from here... probably. 
> 
> I'm mostly done with chapter two, so I will likely post that tomorrow, and then it'll be weekly updates from there on out. 
> 
> I love to hear feedback from you guys, so if you have any notes to improve upon, things you want to see, or you just want to vent about the show, feel free to leave a comment!


End file.
